Lucky Shield
by WishingDreamer5
Summary: During a fierce training without any supervision, Terra does something incredibly stupid. Needless to say, he's lucky to be still alive, but he would have done it again in a heartbeat if he had to. Blame his jealousy for Ven... and some other emotions. At least Aqua finds out about his feelings for a certain girl... Or does she? Will Terra finally confess to her?


**A/N: This was originally _chapter 2: Dream_, _chapter 13: Lucky_, and _chapter 92: Shield_ from my Drabble-fic "100 Hopes and Wishes." I decided to expand those themes and make one big one-shot of them. From now on, updates will be every other Friday due to a busy life. Hope you'll like this. :)**

**Special thanks: M. L. Ayala, my beta reader**

* * *

_~ Aqua raised a thin, blue brow in response and gave him an incredulous look that said all too clearly, _"Have you lost your mind?"

* * *

Today was a bright and sunny day in the beautiful Land of Departure, just like every other day. Aqua, Terra and Ven were finally allowed to train without supervision. Their master had told them that they seemed to be ready for it. Since Ven hadn't appeared yet, they were both waiting for him outside, enjoying the sun and the nice weather.

Terra was leaning nonchalantly against the cool, white wall, his arms crossed, while Aqua was sitting on the stairs, her eyes closed. Actually, the wall didn't feel that cold anymore thanks to the sun and Terra's warm back.

The small smile on Aqua's face was barely visible, but Terra knew that it was there. He'd known her long enough for that. Every now and then, the male wielder of the Keyblade couldn't help but steal a glance at her and notice how her long, dark lashes were touching the skin near her eyes. Didn't that tickle? It was something that he always secretly wondered. The only thing that bothered him slightly was that strand of hair, which he wanted to brush away from her face.

The brunet male started to wonder if Aqua would mind if she saw him staring at her like that, from her striking blue hair and her creamy, exposed shoulders that reminded him of pure snow, to her long, slender legs. Legs that any other girl would die for. Would she say anything about it at all? Probably, but he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even notice. After all, all she had eyes for lately was Ventus... but he didn't mind that one bit.

Nature seemed to be playing a rather cruel yet interesting game with Terra today. The sun and the trees, especially, did their best to impress the male teen. A very astonishing spectacle of light and shadow - not Darkness, because Aqua and Darkness didn't go together at all - was seen on her face and yet she didn't seem to notice all of that. It fascinated him to no end.

_No, stop it this instant!_ he berated himself mentally.

He shook his head in an attempt to stay focused and clear the forming fog in his head, but he already knew that that wouldn't help a bit. It was all in vain indeed.

Meanwhile, Aqua had wondered briefly what was taking the utterly cheerful and always so fast boy so long. She had said that aloud, much to Terra's dismay. This made him come to the conclusion that the only way to make her forget about Ven for a moment was to start talking about a really random topic. Something Terra just happened to be very good at lately. Besides, it had worked before, so why not try again?

"Now that I think about it, I had such a strange dream last night," Terra remarked out of the blue.

Honestly, now that he had said it aloud, it sounded even more stupid than it had in his head. It was too late to take back his words, though. The only thing he could do now was hope that Aqua would play along this time.

Fortunately, this revelation made Aqua rather curious. Terra had never talked about the dreams he had before, - at least, not with her, or when she was around - so what made him do that today? Was his dream really _that_ strange that he just needed to talk about it and get it off his chest? Perhaps. Maybe it involved her?

Aqua briefly shook her head at that silly thought. Now why in the Keyblade's name would Terra dream about _her_ of all people? Where had that strange thought even come from? She actually didn't think she wanted to know.

"Oh? What did you dream about?" Aqua asked, opening her eyes with some difficulty and shifting slightly so she could face him fully from where she was sitting.

Terra didn't answer right away. First, he walked toward her to sit next to her. Somehow, he felt that talking to her would be a lot easier when he was sitting and didn't feel like he could lose his balance at any moment.

He still hesitated slightly, before replying with, "Well, I dreamt that…you had dyed your hair purple, because it was written in a new diet you had taken."

Aqua raised a thin, blue brow in response and gave him an incredulous look that said all too clearly, _"Have you lost your mind?"_

Terra knew very well what that look meant, for it wasn't the first time he had received it from her. Nevertheless, he continued. Whether that was very brave or foolish, he didn't know for sure, but if this was the only way to get her attention away from Ventus, then so be it. What was the worst thing that could happen?

_No, don't go down that road again. It doesn't help one bit and you know that_, Terra thought.

"Somehow, the diet consisted of dying your hair, painting your nails the same color as your hair and only eating Fillet."

"Oh?" was all Aqua said, now raising her other eyebrow as well.

She had tilted her head slightly to the side. It was one of those _cute_ - there really was no other word for it - looks Terra loved to see. He also didn't miss that small smile that made the corner of her lips lift ever so slightly. It made his heart involuntarily skip a beat.

"_'Oh_' what?" he demanded.

"_Oh_ as in: I think you've been training a bit _too_ hard as of lately," she explained, quasi-earnestly.

Terra felt his cheeks grow warm at that. He shrugged, slightly nonchalantly. Or that was what he hoped he looked like, rather than a rusty robot that was ready to be deposited in the recycle bin...if he was lucky enough to get there.

"Well, it's not like I have any other choice, now do I? Master Eraqus rarely gives us a day free, other than the Sunday, which doesn't really count."

"True," Aqua admitted, nodding.

It was silent between them for a moment, but it wasn't one of those awkward silences they had had some time ago. Terra swiftly tried to come up with another random but interesting topic to break this silence. Much to his surprise, Aqua beat him to it.

Pursing her lips slightly, she asked, "Say Terra, does that mean you think I should go on a diet?"

Terra almost twisted his neck by turning toward her. He started to blush. He wasn't really fond of subjects like that, because it made him feel a little embarrassed.

"What? N-no, of course not! Don't be silly, Aqua."

Curse him and his sudden stuttering. This was getting awkward. Should he now compliment her on her...uh, assets? But how could he be sure that it wouldn't work the other way around and get her mad? Because then he would admit a little that he had looked at her before and he knew that not many girls liked that.

Then, he found himself wondering what Aqua thought of him. Did she think he was muscular, or not that much? Did she like the muscular types, or was she only attracted to the more emotional types, like Ven? This was getting nowhere. It was a good thing that Aqua just started talking again.

"Are you sure, Terra? I mean, that would be the only plausible reason of why you dream of _me_ having a _diet_. After all, dreams are the reflection of your life and thoughts when you're awake..."

Aqua had the strange idea that Terra didn't realize that she was only teasing him. She just wanted to tell him that, when at that moment Ven came running toward them.

This made Terra groan inwardly. Why was it that every time he had started to enjoy his conversation with Aqua, _he_ just had to show up to ruin everything? Sure, Ven was his friend and a very nice and funny guy, maybe the best friend he had ever had, but sometimes he found him the most annoying person he knew. Whether or not he intended to be annoying, Terra had no idea.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, guys. Master Eraqus needed to speak to me, that's why it took a little longer than planned," Ven said, giving them an apologetic look.

Aqua smiled, sweetly. As always. She reached forward to ruffle Ven's hair affectionately, like an older sister would do to a younger sibling. Ven wasn't planning to tell Aqua to stop, Terra could see that from the look on his face. This erupted a strange, _dark _and sickening feeling from the inside, while he wondered why Aqua never ruffled _his_ hair. Didn't she like brown hair? Besides, what did Ven have that he didn't?

"That's okay, Ven. We understand," Aqua said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ven cried.

He didn't wait to hear his friends' reaction, but started to run towards their training field. Terra glanced toward Aqua. Her smile had widened a little as she was watching Ven.

When their eyes met, though, her smile faded somewhat and a frown appeared on her delicate face instead. "Terra, are you okay?" she asked, worried.

Terra realized that he had to be looking like someone who was plotting a cruel murder against someone else.

He quickly changed his facial expression into a more neutral one and nodded, while running a hand through his hair. "I'm fine."

Aqua looked at him for a short while, as though by looking at him she could get the right answer out of him. When she seemed to realize that it was of no use, she said softly, "Okay. If you say so... Let's go."

Terra nodded and motioned for her to go first.

* * *

A loud, somewhat metallic _CLANG!_ was clearly heard when two Keyblades made contact with each other in the air. Both wielders of the Keyblade withdrew their weapons, only to strike again. They did this over and over again, both unwilling to give up that soon, so the other would win.

Aqua and Terra had been sparring against each other for quite some time now, Terra relying on his strength while Aqua used magic. It was almost impossible to get Aqua where he wanted her to be. Every time, she managed to move away, gracefully.

This seemed to be so much more than just a simple sparring match, though. Where Aqua stepped back, Terra was there to take a calculating step forward and meet her weapon with a counter strike. Both were moving in sync, back and forth, sometimes even up and down, almost as though they were performing a dance rather than a fight. Their Keyblades weren't their weapons. They were more like an extension of their arms.

Ven tried to memorize some of their movements and see through this unusual pattern in order to find their weak spot and use it against them, but that was pretty hard, since they were moving so fast all the time. If he didn't know any better he would think that they could both read each other's minds, and now were working together to form an interesting training session. It was then that Terra saw his chance. With one swift move, he let Aqua fall on the ground. He didn't know why, but he hoped that he hadn't hurt her too much. He aimed his Keyblade at her face so she couldn't get up.

Aqua smiled, looking up at him. "You won." She didn't sound surprised at all.

"Barely."

Terra smiled, too and extended his hand to help Aqua get up, as he always did whenever she fell or lost a match. She gratefully took his hand and let herself be lifted up by him. Her fingers felt warm, delicate and soft, compared to Terra's own rather coarse hands, and her grip was gentle.

"Thanks," she murmured, looking him deep in the eyes.

The intense, cobalt color of his eyes always managed to marvel her.

"Wow! That was really great, guys! Congrats, Terra. Gosh, at times like these I really wish I was just as good as you!" Ven suddenly exclaimed, which made both teens return to reality.

Terra rubbed the back of his head, slightly surprised at Ven's compliment. "Uh, thanks, Ven," the brunet said, rather sheepishly.

He couldn't help but smile at it.

"Oh, don't be too modest, it's true. Okay, now it's my turn against Aqua!" Ven cried, cheerfully as ever.

Terra frowned slightly. He narrowed his eyes unconsciously, not being too pleased with this idea. However, he didn't say anything, nor did he go against Ven's sudden proposal (although if he was really honest with himself, he could've seen that one coming). Not because he would upset Ven, but because he knew Aqua wouldn't like that, mostly because she would think that he had upset Ven. Man, he had never realized that girls could be this complicated!

Even though a short break was more than welcome now that he was tired and it was just _too warm _for his liking, he didn't like the idea that he had to watch from the sidelines while Ven was getting all the fun with Aqua.

Wait a minute, so that was what that sneaky little guy had planned from the start! And all those compliments about Terra's fighting style were only made, because that would make Aqua happy. Terra started to feel stupid as realization hit him. Why hadn't he seen that one coming? Why was he so dense in moments like this?

Nevertheless, the two males traded places without as much as exchanging a glance or a word. Ven stood on the field, at the very same place Terra had stood a few seconds ago. The youngest apprentice was preparing himself physically and mentally to attack Aqua, who had to block his attacks.

"Ready?" Aqua asked, raising her own Keyblade.

She seemed to be oblivious to Terra's darker thoughts. And if she had noticed the peculiar change of attitude, she had probably chosen to ignore it for the time being. Ven nodded enthusiastically, grinning widely. With a pretty fierce battle cry he jumped forward, in Aqua's direction. Terra almost laughed at how silly Ven looked.

He quietly watched them move around each other, but his mind was obviously elsewhere. He was contemplating things that had to do with Aqua and, unfortunately, Ven. Was he really getting jealous, and, more importantly, was there a reason for him to get jealous?

In his head, he started to weigh all the pros and cons between Ven and himself. First of all, _Ven_ was a happy-go-lucky kid, while Terra on the contrary, was more thoughtful. _Ven_ was obviously very extrovert, while Terra was a more quiet and introvert guy. Aqua liked stroking _Ven's_ hair, but she had never done this to Terra before. _Ven_ had gotten a nickname from Aqua, he hadn't. And maybe he should be happy about that one, because 'Ter' sounded just too girly for his liking.

And then their eyes. He knew that Aqua liked Ven's eyes, because they reminded her of a sunny, cloudless day, and of home, but Aqua had said that she liked Terra's eyes as well. He had no idea how much, though. According to her, his eyes reminded her of stormy days at sea and-

Suddenly, everything happened in slow-motion. Surprisingly, Ven's spell hadn't missed his target, which was Aqua's upper arm. Aqua couldn't concentrate on the battle anymore because of that blow. Ven was about to hit her with his Keyblade.

Terra knew she couldn't escape from that one, so he did the only thing he could think of at that moment. He jumped in front of her, like a shield, so he would take the blow. Instantly, Terra's eyes widened as he realized what was going to happen for sure. Then…

_Whack!_

Aqua yelled, horrified, while a sickening pain went through Terra's head. Tears of pain started to form in his eyes. It truly felt like his skull was (about to) split in two. He groaned, trying to do his very best not to start screaming.

"Oh no!" Ven exclaimed. "I didn't meant to-"

The last thing he thought he heard before he passed out was Aqua, who cried, "Terra!"

After that, he felt how his feet didn't take his weight anymore. Terra landed in what felt like soft arms. He could vaguely smell Aqua's shampoo, or her perfume, but he frankly couldn't remember what this smell was called. Was it flowers? Or maybe some kind of fruit? After that, everything around him was black.

* * *

Terra groaned, miserably. Every inch of his body hurt like _hell_, from his head - especially his head; it was like a time bomb, with the tick-tocking and all, ready to explode unexpectedly at any time - to his toes. It felt as though he had been run over and over _and over _again by a horde of race cars, with needles as wheels. In other words, there were times he had felt better, and, to add insult to injury, he felt incredibly nauseous.

Yes, life sucked. An awful lot. A little bit too much to call it funny, too. Not that he felt like he would ever be able to laugh. As of right now, it felt like it couldn't get any worse. He slowly tried to open his eyes, but it was too bright in the room. It made his eyes hurt beyond belief.

_Okay... I take...my words...back. Me and...my big mouth_, he thought, until someone closed the curtains.

He sighed, relieved, wondering who that person was. Probably Master Eraqus, who was ready to give him a lecture Terra wouldn't forget that soon. Well, as long as it wasn't Ven, he was more than completely fine with it. After all, this was all _his_ fault. Whenever he was able to walk again, he would have a nice little word with him. What idiot (except Ven, of course) just waves a Keyblade in the round like some unstable teenager?

Opening his eyes again, he met Aqua's eyes. It looked like they were of a darker shade of blue this time and she seemed to be pretty worried. Terra concluded that he must have been hit very hard to think that her eyes could change color.

"Better?" she asked, with a small voice.

"…Yeah," he lied.

He nodded, but stopped immediately when his head started to hurt even more. Instead, he went for looking at Aqua closely, so he wouldn't be that aware of the pain. It was almost amazing that she could make him forget everything by just being there. Terra didn't like what he saw, though. Was it just him and his imagination again, or did Aqua really look paler than ever in this lighting, or rather, lack thereof?

"Water..." Terra pleaded, when suddenly his throat felt almost as dry as a desert.

Aqua swiftly took the glass of water from his nightstand and tried to pour some of the liquid in his mouth. Because of the pain in his skull, Terra barely noticed that her hands were shaking.

"You're very lucky you're still alive after that blow, you know that?" Her voice faltered slightly.

To hide her embarrassment (or maybe something else?), she put the glass back on the nightstand again. Terra frowned slightly at her question, remembering very well what had happened before he had woken up in this comfortable bed. He simply couldn't believe that he had let Ven hit him with his Keyblade. Why hadn't he materialized his own Keyblade? Was it panic that had paralyzed him, stopping him from doing so?

"...I guess."

Aqua sat on the side of his bed and kept her hands folded in her lap. The bed creaked slightly and sank due to her weight when she took place next to him. Her beautiful, striking hair fell in front of her eyes as she did so. She looked just like an angel.

"First I need to ask you a few questions, though. So...how many fingers am I holding up?"

Terra gave her a rather funny look. Aqua seemed to notice his surprise, because the corners of her mouth went upwards before she said, "Concussion check."

"Oh..." Terra looked back at her hand again and replied, "Three."

"Now, spell your name."

If this had been under different circumstances, he probably would've started laughing, or something. "T...E...R...A."

Aqua's eyes widened in shock.

Terra realized his little fault before she could say something about it. "Oh... I mean... T...E...R...R...A."

"Good," she said, nodding. "You scared me a little there. What is Ven's main strength compared to us?"

Terra closed his eyes. Of course. Of all the questions she could ask, like what the name of his Keyblade was, or even hers, it just had to involve _Ven_ somehow, because obviously she couldn't get that hyper little bugger out of her head.

"Terra?"

At the worried sound of her voice, he opened his eyes again to look at her. "...His speed," he replied, reluctantly.

Aqua nodded once again, now looking more relieved. "That's right. He's really fast, huh?"

Terra didn't reply. He wasn't in the mood for this.

Then, the dreaded, but expected question came, far too soon for his liking, "Terra, honestly. Why did you jump in front of me? I could've easily dodged Ven's attack and I'm sure you know that, too, somewhere deep down inside."

Terra looked back at Aqua again. She wore a strange expression on her face. It was calculating, curious, and something else he didn't recognize. It was one that Terra couldn't really place.

"Well?"

There was no way in _hell_ that Terra was going to tell her the truth. The thought alone sounded ridiculous enough in his head already. Even more ridiculous than the dream he had made up just to get her attention, not too long ago.

"I…don't know. I…wasn't really…thinking... I think."

Here, he was telling the truth. He had gotten to his feet and before he had realized what he was doing he had jumped in front of Aqua to take the blow. Now that he thought of it, this was pretty embarrassing. He could only hope that Master Eraqus hadn't seen this utterly stupid move. It would only make him more suspicious about his feelings for Aqua.

"No, really?" Aqua snorted, almost rolling her eyes.

She seemed to be back to her old self again. Terra merely glared at her. To be honest, he hadn't waited to see if Aqua would dodge it or not; he couldn't bear to see her getting hurt in front of his eyes, without doing anything.

"Well, Master Eraqus said you need more rest, so I'm leaving again. We'll be checking up on you every once in a while, okay?" Aqua said, before getting up.

Aqua walked to the door and went outside, closing the door after her. Terra didn't stop her, even though he hadn't minded if she had stayed a little longer. At least he would have been sure that she wasn't spending her time with Ven.

Meanwhile, Aqua stood outside Terra's bedroom. A deep sigh escaped her lips. Honestly, why had Terra done that? Was it because he had thought she wasn't strong and fast enough to dodge Ven's attack? Could it be because he cared more about her than he told her? Before she could think more about this, Ven's bedroom door opened.

"How's Terra doing?" he asked.

Aqua noticed that he had never looked this sad before. It almost shattered her heart into a billion pieces. She hated to see him sad, because Ven was like a brother to her. With Terra things were different, though. At least, for her.

"He'll be alright. Why don't you pay him a visit?" she asked.

"Actually, I was about to do that," he admitted.

His hand went to the back of his head, which always happened when he was nervous about something.

"Okay, but please don't make it too long. He needs his rest."

"Aye aye!"

With that, Ven opened the door and stepped inside. Aqua stared at the door. Poor guy. She just knew he was going to feel guilty for the rest of his life, while it really wasn't his fault. Actually, it was nobody's fault. She was about to walk away when Ven carefully opened the door again and stepped out of the room.

"Wow, when I said you shouldn't make it too long, I didn't mean you only had three seconds," Aqua remarked, slightly amused.

Ven snickered. "I know that. He was fast asleep, that's all."

Aqua frowned at that. How was that possible? Not even two minutes ago she had talked to him.

"Really?" she asked.

"Uh-huh. I even prodded him just to be sure..." When he saw that look on Aqua's face, he quickly said, "I did that only once! A-anyways, I was actually looking for you."

Aqua lifted a brow at this. "Me?"

"Yes, you," he replied, pointing at her.

This reminded Aqua of that nursery rhyme. _Who me? Yeah, you. Couldn't be. Then who? _She quickly shook her head at this.

"I don't really get the last part of the Theory, '_Magical Spells, definition and defense_.' Could you please help me with it?"

Aqua smiled, running a hand through her hair. She loved helping Ven with his homework. She had never seen a more eager person than him.

"Sure. Let's go."

It was a good thing that Terra hadn't heard this. Aqua followed Ven to the library, temporarily forgetting all about Terra and his condition.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. I hope Terra isn't too OOC in this one, with his jealousy for Ven and such. The reason Terra talks slow, is pretty obvious right, after being hit by a Keyblade on his head? Also, this is my 7th entry for Bookaholic711's Project PULL.**


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